United States First Lady Michelle Obama launched a scathing attack on Donald Trump for demeaning and disrespecting women after reports of him using lewd comments against women went viral on the social media. The first lady in an emotional speech at an election rally for Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire denounced Trump while highlighting the difference between ‘locker-room banter’ and ‘sexual-predation’.
Addressing Trump as ‘a candidate for President of the United States’ throughout her speech, Obama said that Trump’s comments were not only ‘painful’ and ‘demeaning’ but also below the ‘basic standards of human decency’. “And last week, we saw this candidate actually bragging about sexually assaulting women. And I can’t believe that I’m saying that a candidate for President of the United States has bragged about sexually assaulting women,” she said.
The speech came as an uncharacteristic direct attack on Trump by the First Lady who admitted that she eschewed her election speech as it would have been ‘dishonest and disingenuous’ to move on to the next thing ‘like this was all just a bad dream’.
“This wasn’t just locker-room banter. This was a powerful individual speaking freely and openly about sexually predatory behaviour, and actually bragging about kissing and groping women, using language so obscene that many of us were worried about our children hearing it when we turn on the TV,” Obama said rejecting Trump’s denial of sexual-assault allegations against him.
Describing Trump’s actions as ‘disgraceful’ and ‘intolerable’, she said that if we endorse Trump’s actions “we’re telling our sons that it’s okay to humiliate women. We’re telling our daughters that this is how they deserve to be treated. We’re telling all our kids that bigotry and bullying are perfectly acceptable in the leader of their country.”
“If we have a President who routinely degrades women, who brags about sexually assaulting women, then how can we maintain our moral authority in the world? How can we continue to be a beacon of freedom and justice and human dignity,” she added.
Attacking Trump on his disrespecting demeanour, Michelle said that, “strong men — men who are truly role models — don’t need to put down women to make themselves feel powerful.”
Closing her speech she urged the people to vote for the candidate who would ‘fight for kids, for good schools, for good jobs for our families’ and for the person who thinks that ‘women deserve the right to make our own choices about our bodies and our health’.
